Houston We Have a Problem!!

Being entrusted with the Blog is like being asked to pinch hit for Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. Who can do justice to the weekly musings of our favorite blogger? But carry on I must, so here is the entry for June 15^th – Father’s Day. While we are on the subject, let’s take a moment to recognize the Kimberg moving company which certainly rivals the 7 Santini Brothers. Judi flying to Florida shipping 20 odd boxes to New York. Bernie flying down to Florida a week later packing up the remaining items for 2 destinations, storage in Florida or the Toyota heading to Baltimore. A quick stop in North Carolina for a Father’s day celebration with Bernie and his 2 kids and on to Baltimore where Judi was waiting with the relevant items from the boxes that arrived in New York. Wow!

But enough of that, on onto the subject of the Blog – golf and more. Readers know that we have been struggling finding familiar golfers to play with us at the un-Godly hour of 6:52 A.M. We have been paired with strangers who have helped to provide blog fodder. Today we were joined by 2 familiar faces of our choosing. In the spirit of Father’s day our twosome was a father and son Ken and Max. Their relaxed, low-key manner made the day a pleasant experience and showed a father and son supporting each other through the trials and tribulations of the golf day. We didn’t know what to expect when we started off day, because there were tremendous rain storms the night before and this particular course doesn’t drain well. We approached the tee on the first hole and looked out on a foggy, humid morning. 3 balls in the fairway, and only Ken found the trees on the right – a good start. As Barry reached for his trusty Pitching wedge to knock it on the green, he became instantly concerned when he could not find the club in his bag. The 9 iron was missing too. Barry’s first thought was that the clubs were in his car in the parking lot. From where we were standing it was a short walk back to car, so Barry hit his ball and then ran back to the car. When he returned empty handed we knew this was not good sign. Barry retraced his steps from the last few days to try to determine where the clubs might be. He played golf on Thursday with a friend. Could he have left them on that course? He moved his golf bag from car to car as Sammy and Sara each needed cars for various reasons – could they be in one of the other cars? I told Barry that he could use my clubs should he need them thinking that he could concentrate on his golf game and not worry about his missing clubs. But to paraphrase Harry Chapin’s song, “another man might have been angry and another man might have been hurt, but another man (Barry) never would have let it go” ---- but instead of stashing the bill in his shirt he reached for the cell phone on the next hole. Who could he be calling at 7:05 A.M. on a Sunday morning? His wife Leslie, who as the readers will recall was mentioned in last week’s blog as the understanding wife who allowed Barry to finish his stellar round. Today she was called upon to check the car at home and see if the clubs were there. Upon locating the clubs, Barry then asked if while she was out, would she be able to drop them off at the clubhouse. Amazingly she agreed and a plan was put forth to have Barry back with a full set of Golf clubs in time for the back 9. Wow you got to love the resourcefulness of that couple, but to protect their identity we will continue to use Leslie’s maiden name – Gold.

This wasn’t the only equipment problem today (hence the title of the Blog). The protagonist was once again Barry, and this time it was the wheel on his push cart that holds his golf bag, Last week the wheel wobbled a bit, but this week the wheel had taken a turn for the worse and was shaking so badly that I was checking to see if I had my AAA card with me. Without holding the reader in suspense any longer I will tell you how it all turned out. Barry’s cart made it to the end of the round, but will not be back next week without a new tire. Leslie got the clubs to the course and Barry ran over to get them on the ninth hole. Barry still got to eat his bagel and butter, but not until the 10^th hole because of his detour to get the clubs. Barry with his full set of clubs in his bag, managed to once again birdie a hole – this time the difficult par 5 13^th. We finished in 4 hours and 35 minutes which was about average for the group. The course was wet and in good shape with the exception of a big oak tree that had fallen down on the 17^th hole near the fairway bunker. Last but not least, Max kept up the tradition of the last few weeks of a long hitter showing us how to rocket the ball. He didn’t disappoint, by accepting the challenge of hitting the ball over the marsh on the 11^th hole, landing safely on the other side over 200 yards away. A shot that would make his father proud! Happy Father’s day to all.